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Volume 34, Issue 3, Summer 2015

On The Right Track

By Micaela Jemison

Scientists from Bat Conservation International, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the University of Florida have successfully tagged and tracked for the first time the movements of the Florida bonneted bat (Eumops floridanus), one of the world’s most endangered bats.

Three female Florida bonneted bats were outfitted with new, lightweight GPS trackers supplied by BCI. The trackers, which weigh less than 2 grams each, gathered data for two nights before being retrieved at the end of the study.

This was one of the first trials to test the new GPS technology, which has only recently been developed small enough to put on some bat species. This is an exciting step forward for bat conservation as this tool will provide scientists with critical new information about the movement, home range and foraging habitat of the Florida bonneted bat.